Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

In this ninth chapter of Daniel's prophecy, which follows chronologically Daniel 6, the ancient Jewish prophet is around 85 years old and had just come under the Medo-Persian Empire after seventy years under the Babylonians.

I give you this information because it helps us to see how Bible prophecy helps us to determine where we are on God's "prophetic time-clock".

Verse 2 tells us of what Daniel got from his own devotional time, reading God's Word. Daniel was reading from the book of Jeremiah 29:10 and 25:11, where the prophet Jeremiah, almost one hundred years before the fact, revealed that the Jews would be out of the land of Israel for a seventy year period of time so that the "land of Israel" could get it's "seventy Sabbaths".

By reading God's Word Daniel could determine where he was in God's time. Notice as you read verses 3-23, Daniel, once he realizes where he was in God's "prophetic time," he confessed his sins, the sins of his people and looks for the Lord's direction for his life.

You may not know that there is not one single negative word said about Daniel any place in the entire Bible. There is, by the way, in this chapter a "commendation," from the heavenlies, for Daniel, verse 23.

God gives Daniel a glimpse into the future with the prophecy of the "seventy weeks of Daniel," verses 24-27. God has a "special plan", the seventy weeks of Daniel, (490 years); for a "special people", the Jewish people; and a "special place", the Holy City of Jerusalem; all of these in verse 24.

In this devotional I won't have the time to deal with the entire prophecy that extends from Daniel's day until the day of the Lord's return to earth. I would love to share with you the special blessing of Daniel 9:25-26 where we can see how the Lord set the time when the Messiah would appear on the earth.

The time for the appearance of the Messiah, verse 25, would be after 69 of the "70 Weeks," or 483 of the 490 years of Daniel’s prophecy. This timing would be from when King Artaxerxes, the King of Nehemiah's day, gave the command to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and streets of the city, some time in April 445BC.

The time would extend until the crucifixion of Jesus in April of 30 AD. This passage actually lays out for us when the Messiah would show up in Jerusalem.

In fact, Daniel even added information about the destruction of the Temple, which took place in 70 AD, to the time mix. This prophecy pin-pointed the time that the Messiah would be crucified, "cut off", verse 26, and that it had to happen before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, which was done by the Roman army.

These two verses set the time for the appearance of the Messiah on the earth. Jesus Christ fulfilled every prophetic detail, proving He was the Messiah and that He came right on time, according to Bible prophecy.

Next time we are in Daniel for our devotions, I will look at Daniel 9:27 and be more specific about the Lord's return. All the prophecies of Daniel, referring to the Lord's first coming and what would happen, were fulfilled in every detail. By the way, fulfilled prophecy sets the stage for future Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

Keep your focus on the "special people," the Jewish people, and the "special place", Jerusalem, to know where God is on His time clock.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for Your prophecies that help me understand the times in which we're living. Help me to live in light of Your soon coming.